(AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak, File). FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2018, file photo, Bill Cosby, in his first public performance since his last tour ended amid protests in May 2015, plays the drums at the LaRose Jazz Club in Philadelphia. Cosby is set to atten...

(AP Photo/Don Thompson, File). FILE - In this April 12, 2016, file photo, Kelly Johnson, then referred to as "Kacey," front left, one of Bill Cosby's accusers, and attorney Gloria Allred, front right, attend a hearing at the State Capitol in Sacramento...

(AP Photo/Nick Ut, File). FILE - In this March 29, 2016, file photo, model Janice Dickinson leaves a hearing about her defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby in Los Angeles Superior Court. Cosby is set to attend a Monday, March 5, 2018, pretrial hearing...

(Pedro Portal/ The Miami Herald via AP). this March 10, 2018 photo shows an early morning view of the main span of the a pedestrian bridge that is being positioned to connect the City of Sweetwater, Fla., to Florida International University near Miami....

The deadly collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Florida has cast a spotlight on a rapid construction technique widely used around the U.S.More >>

The deadly collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Florida has cast a spotlight on a rapid construction technique widely used around the U.S.More >>

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File). FILE - This Monday, June 19, 2017, file photo shows a user signing in to Facebook on an iPad, in North Andover, Mass. Facebook has a problem it just can’t kick: People keep exploiting it in ways that could sway election...

The federal government is demanding that the company building a giant nuclear waste treatment plant in Washington state provide records proving that the steel used in the nearly $17 billion project is safe.More >>

The federal government is demanding that the company building a giant nuclear waste treatment plant in Washington state provide records proving that the steel used in the nearly $17 billion project is safe.More >>

Unsealed court documents from an on-going gender discrimination lawsuit against Microsoft claims that the tech giant confirmed only one of 118 complaints made by female employees was "founded.".More >>

Unsealed court documents from an on-going gender discrimination lawsuit against Microsoft claims that the tech giant confirmed only one of 118 complaints made by female employees was "founded.".More >>

(Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP). FBI agents meet at the scene of an explosion in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 18, 2018. At least a few people were injured in another explosion in Texas' capital late Sunday, after three package bombs deto...

Police have warned residents near the site of the latest explosion in Austin to remain indoors and to call 911 if they need to leave home before 10 a.m.More >>

Police have warned residents near the site of the latest explosion in Austin to remain indoors and to call 911 if they need to leave home before 10 a.m.More >>

(Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP). FBI agents work the scene of an explosion in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 18, 2018. At least a few people were injured in another explosion in Texas' capital late Sunday, after three package bombs detonat...

At least two people injured in another explosion in Texas' capital after three package bombs that detonated earlier this month in other parts of the city killed two people and injuring two others.More >>

At least two people injured in another explosion in Texas' capital after three package bombs that detonated earlier this month in other parts of the city killed two people and injuring two others.More >>

(AP Photo/Eric Gay). Federal investigators work near the site of Sunday's explosion, Monday, March 19, 2018, in Austin, Texas. Multiple people were injured in the explosion Sunday night, and police warned nearby residents to remain indoors overnight as...

Austin police chief's plea for bomber to come forward may be an attempt to coax the perpetrator to give additional clues.More >>

Austin police chief's plea for bomber to come forward may be an attempt to coax the perpetrator to give additional clues.More >>

Authorities said Friday that the cables suspending a pedestrian bridge were being tightened after a "stress test" when the 950-ton concrete span collapsed over traffic, killing at least six people and injuring 10

Authorities said Friday that the cables suspending a pedestrian bridge were being tightened after a "stress test" when the 950-ton concrete span collapsed over traffic, killing at least six people and injuring 10

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Bill Cosby made his first court appearance of the #MeToo era on Monday as defense lawyers tried without success to get his sexual assault case thrown out, then turned their attention to blocking some of the 80-year-old comedian's dozens of accusers from testifying at his looming retrial.

Prosecutors are trying to persuade the judge to allow as many as 19 other women to take the stand, including model Janice Dickinson, as they attempt to show the comedian had a long history of drugging and attacking women.

They're also trying to insulate Cosby's accuser, Andrea Constand, from what a prosecutor called "inevitable attacks" on her credibility.

Allowing other women to take the stand will show jurors that Cosby "systematically engaged in a signature pattern of providing an intoxicant to his young female victim and then sexually assaulting her when she became incapacitated," Assistant District Attorney Adrienne D. Jappe told the judge.

Cosby's lawyers will address the issue in court Tuesday. They've argued in writing that some of the women's allegations date to the 1960s and are impossible to defend against, given that some witnesses are dead, memories are faded and evidence has been lost.

Judge Steven O'Neill said he would not rule on whether to allow the testimony by the end of the two-day hearing, calling it an "extraordinarily weighty issue" that he needs time to review.

The judge allowed just one other accuser to take the stand at Cosby's first trial last year, barring any mention of about 60 others who have come forward to accuse Cosby in recent years.

The only other hint that jurors got of Cosby's past came from deposition excerpts from 2005 and 2006 in which the star admitted giving quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.

Cosby, who entered the courtroom on the arm of his spokesman, has said his encounter with Constand was consensual. A jury deadlocked on the case last year, setting the stage for a retrial.

Earlier Monday, Cosby's retooled defense team, led by former Michael Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau, had argued that telephone records, travel itineraries and other evidence show the alleged assault couldn't have happened when Constand says it did and thus falls outside the statute of limitations.

The defense disputed Constand's testimony at last year's trial that he assaulted her at his suburban Philadelphia home in January 2004, when she was a Temple University women's basketball executive and he was a powerful Temple trustee. Constand didn't give a specific date, but said the incident had to have happened prior to Jan. 20, when her cousin moved into her Philadelphia apartment.

Cosby's lawyers told O'Neill they'd found evidence that Cosby wasn't even in Pennsylvania during that time. Constand testified she would have called Cosby to be let into his home, but his lawyers said her phone records don't reflect such a call within her timeframe.

The date is important because Cosby wasn't arrested until Dec. 30, 2015 - meaning any assault prior to Dec. 30, 2003, would have fallen outside the 12-year statute of limitations.

O'Neill said he'd leave that for the jury to decide, rejecting a defense motion to dismiss the charges.

Jury selection is slated to begin March 29.

Even before Monday's arguments got underway, Cosby's lawyers were rapped by the judge for falsely accusing prosecutors of hiding or destroying evidence.

District Attorney Kevin Steele asked O'Neill to throw Cosby's legal team off the case for claiming that prosecutors failed to reveal they'd interviewed a woman who cast doubt on Cosby's accuser.

The defense withdrew the allegation days later after his former lawyer confirmed he knew that the prosecution interviewed the woman before Cosby's first trial.

The DA argued Cosby's new lawyers acted recklessly and "are at best incompetent and otherwise unethical."

O'Neill, who presided over Cosby's first trial, said he was reluctant to break up Cosby's legal team with his retrial several weeks away. But he added the defense lawyers were essentially "on notice."

Monday's hearing came just 10 days after Cosby's 44-year-old daughter, Ensa, died of kidney disease. The judge expressed condolences to Cosby at the start of the hearing.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand and Dickinson have done.

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Follow Mike Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak

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